


The Pitch

by chellerrific



Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-23
Updated: 2013-06-23
Packaged: 2017-12-15 21:16:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/854153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chellerrific/pseuds/chellerrific
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“His name is Ichigo Kurosaki and he’s one of you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pitch

Kisuke sent the little girl to find him, which was typically manipulative. She had that wounded animal look that made Shinji swallow down his irritation and agree _politely_ to the meeting.

The truth was, Kisuke didn’t try to get in contact very often, so Shinji knew it had to be something important. Not enough to drive Kisuke himself to venture into the Hiyori Wrath Zone but, well, Shinji couldn’t really blame him for that.

And so it was that he found himself in a noisy café sipping overpriced coffee across a small table from Kisuke, when he could have been back at the compound setting the new high score on Bomberman.

“You’re looking well,” Kisuke said lightly.

Shinji tipped his head back, giving him a sidelong look. “Get to the point, will you?”

Kisuke’s expression hardened. “Aizen killed the Central Forty-Six, then left Soul Society with Ichimaru, Tosen, and the Hogyoku.”

Shinji sat back. “Sounds like an absolute gain for Soul Society.”

“There’s more.” Kisuke slid a photo across the table to him.

Shinji picked it up, purely out of curiosity. It showed a boy with a mop of messy orange hair and a sour expression. “This is…?”

“His name is Ichigo Kurosaki and he’s one of you.”

Shinji sucked a sharp breath in through his teeth. “Kisuke, what have you done?”

Kisuke’s fan was open and in front of the lower half of his face. “It wasn’t me, exactly. It was Aizen. The important thing is he can’t control it and he’s going to need to be able to.”

Shinji tossed the picture back at Kisuke with a flick of his fingers. “You want me to bring this boy into the fold, help him defeat his Hollow, and teach him how to control the transformation?”

Kisuke nodded.

“I’m sure this goes without saying but the others are not going to like it. Especially Hiyori.”

Kisuke nodded.

“What’s so special about him?”

“He’s incredibly strong. He only discovered his powers a few months ago and he’s already achieved bankai.”

“Don’t mess around, Kisuke. I’m not in the mood.”

The fan was gone and Kisuke’s gaze was hard under the brim of his hat. “I’m not lying. He defeated three lieutenants at once in seconds flat—unarmed. He bested Byakuya Kuchiki in single combat and fought the current Kenpachi to a draw. He’s the real deal, Shinji. What’s more, he’s never seen Aizen’s shikai. I believe he is the key to Aizen’s defeat.”

Shinji drummed his fingers on the tabletop, thinking. He was loath to do anything for the benefit of Soul Society, but he absolutely approved of the idea of taking Sosuke down. It had been way too long.

As for the boy, Shinji felt no particular loyalty to him, even if they did share the same fate, but it only seemed fair to let this Ichigo know the truth about the nest of vipers he had stumbled into. If he really was the best chance of taking Sosuke down, Soul Society would string him along until he stopped being useful, then dispose of him. The Central Forty-Six may have been dead, and Shinji was certainly not above admitting to a strong vindictive pleasure at the thought, but there’d be forty-six more imbeciles ready to take their place and misuse their power soon enough.

“You really think he’s the best chance for victory?”

Kisuke leaned forward over the table. “I believe he is the _only_ chance for victory.”

Shinji took a deep breath, then snatched the picture back from where it still sat on the table. “I’ll float it by the group, but no guarantees.”

“Yes, I’ve met Hiyori. If you do try to recruit him, there are a few other things you should know.” He produced another photo, this one a group shot.

Shinji eyed it critically. “Two questions, Kisuke: one, do you always go around carrying photos of high school students, and two, _who_ is this gorgeous creature with the long hair?”

“Orihime Inoue,” said Kisuke, ignoring the first question entirely. “She infiltrated Soul Society along with Ichigo and two others.” He indicated a brown mountain of a teenager and a scrawny little pencil neck in turn. “Yasutora Sado and Uryu Ishida.”

Shinji drew his brows together. “Shinigami?”

“No, Ichigo is an anomaly unto himself. The other three are humans, though hardly ordinary. They’re of relatively little importance to you, but don’t expect them not to notice there’s something different about you.”

“Why would I even need to worry about them?”

Kisuke sat up, and the fan was back out, though it couldn’t hide his Cheshire Cat grin. “Didn’t I mention? Ichigo’s not expecting you so it’s best if you approach him as a fellow high school student!”

* * *

“Guys, we need to talk.” Shinji had his hands in his pockets, trying to assume a relaxed posture.

Hiyori was on him in an instant. “You smell like shinigami.”

“Cut it out; I do not,” said Shinji. “He was in a—”

Oops.

The sandal took him across the face before he had the chance to blink. “I knew it!” Hiyori shouted. “It was that bum Kisuke, wasn’t it? Grr, if you did anything other than strangle him so help me—”

Lisa and Mashiro bravely stepped in to restrain her. Normally they’d just let Hiyori go ahead and whale on him, but if Kisuke was involved, that could take awhile, and Shinji clearly had something to tell them.

Shinji held a hand to his throbbing face and got back to his feet. “So. I talked to Kisuke today. According to him, Sosuke’s found the Hogyoku and started to put in motion the final stages of his plan. Which, apparently, involved killing the Central Forty-Six.”

There was a smattering of light applause. Even Hiyori was impressed enough by the news to be set free from her keepers.

“That’s a Godzilla vs. Rodan story if ever I heard one,” Love observed wryly.

“Which one’s which?” Rose asked.

“Not important,” Shinji cut in. “Obviously what Sosuke does or doesn’t do to Soul Society really has nothing to do with us. But…”

“Spit it out already,” Kensei said.

Shinji had hoped the right way to say this would come to him, but it hadn’t, so he supposed he was just going to have to blurt it out. “There’s this kid. Kisuke wants us to recruit and train him. Apparently, he’s one of us.”

There was silence for a moment. Predictably, Hiyori was the first to recover. “No way!”

“At the risk of agreeing with Hiyori, I agree with Hiyori,” Lisa said, adjusting her glasses and turning back to her magazine.

“Hear me out, okay?” Shinji said. “According to Kisuke, this kid is the best and maybe _only_ chance of taking Sosuke down once and for all. Think about what that would mean if he was one of us. It would be a victory for _us_ , not Soul Society. I can’t think of a better way to stick it to them.”

“I can,” said Love. “Let Aizen destroy them.”

There were murmurs of assent.

“Oh, come on, guys!” Shinji said. “Let’s just see what this kid can do, and _then_ if we think it’s worthwhile, we’ll help him. If not, I’ll dump him off at Kisuke’s with a note saying ‘RETURN TO SENDER.’”

“What kind of a kid is he?” Mashiro asked, looking up at him from where she hung upside down over the arm of the couch.

Shinji shrugged, then handed Mashiro the picture he’d gotten from Kisuke. “High schooler. According to Kisuke, he’s already achieved bankai.”

“ _What_?” Hiyori snatched the picture from Mashiro, glared at it briefly, then held it up to Shinji as if perhaps he hadn’t looked at it properly. “This idiot _kid_ knows bankai?”

Shinji spread his hands out, palms up. “Only one way to find out.”

“I don’t think it would hurt to find out what he’s capable of,” Hachi said diplomatically.

“I want to see what he looks like without the frown. Ooh, can I be the one to go find him?” Mashiro sat up to appeal to the group.

“No,” everyone said at once.

Mashiro pouted.

“ _I’ll_ go,” Shinji said, jerking a thumb at himself.

“You do know it doesn’t count as volunteering when we were all going to make you be the one to do it anyway, right?” Rose pointed out.

Shinji frowned at him. “Whatever. So are we agreed on this then? I bring the kid back here for a test run, and if we like what we see, we help him out?”

“Sounds like you’re going to force the issue until we say yes,” Kensei said.

Shinji rocked back on his heels. “Yep.”

“Then just do it and make it quick.”

Hiyori cracked her knuckles. “Or I’ll have to get involved.”

* * *

Shinji was a bit iffy on the uniform. It was sort of bland, and the cut of the pants was flattering to _no one_. Plus, he’d gotten a late start because Hiyori had forced him to wait while she spent ten solid minutes laughing in his face.

When he got to school he was hampered further by having to stand there and be lectured about his tongue ring and his hair (which was completely natural, thank you very much office lady), but he wasn’t really paying attention. He’d spent enough time in a military organization to feel he’d earned the right to a few dress code infractions.

He felt a little bit more charitable towards the uniforms after getting an eyeful of the girls’ version. Nice. Whatever came out of this thing with Ichigo, at least he’d always have his memories.

“Shinji Hirako,” said his new home room teacher. She wasn’t in uniform, of course, but she was still nice to look at, so he’d lucked out there.

“Yes, ma’am,” he chirped. “I can’t wait to meet my new classmates!”

“All right. Wait here a minute and I’ll call you in to introduce yourself.”

Shinji stood in the hall, feeling around inside the classroom. There was one body literally overflowing with reiatsu. That had to be Ichigo. The potency of it was amazing, definitely high captain-class. Very little control, though. Raw, like shapeless dough.

What surprised Shinji was how almost everyone else in the room had at least some measure of reiatsu as well. Most were very low, probably only resulting in unusual levels of spiritual awareness. It was only remarkable because of the concentration of the individuals. A couple of them were incredibly strong for humans, presumably the ones Kisuke had pointed out in the group photo. Shinji was only sensing two like that, though, not three, but that must have meant one was absent. He would weep if that one was Orihime.

He only had a moment to take stock of all this before he sensed something else entirely: a Hollow. He grinned and jumped out of the window, hoping this meant he’d get the chance to see Ichigo in action already.

He figured if Ichigo was coming, it would take a minute or two for him to catch up, so Shinji stopped by a vending machine for a bottle of water. It was a hot, mostly cloudless day and the uniform fabric did not breathe. Then he found a nice vantage point from which to watch things and made himself comfortable.

Sure enough, Ichigo came along a minute later, decked out in full shihakusho. It couldn’t have been anyone else under that hair. The size of his sword was ridiculous, which smacked of remarkable but relatively untrained power.

Ichigo took the Hollow down without much effort at all, but the Hollow was nothing special, so Shinji would have been disappointed otherwise.

Before going back to class, Ichigo stopped to have a conversation with the two people who’d followed him: the big guy, whose name Shinji had already forgotten, and glorious Orihime. Even at this distance she was stunning, the kind of girl he could fall in love with. Lucky Ichigo.

Reluctantly, Shinji hurried back to school to give his formal introduction. He was a little distracted to see the third guy Kisuke had mentioned, the scrawny one with the glasses, and to realize he had no reiatsu whatsoever. It didn’t matter to Shinji, of course, but it was unexpected—hadn’t he infiltrated Soul Society? Anyway, Shinji had more important things to attend to at the moment, like spelling his name.

 _Nailed it_ , he thought, taking his seat next to Ichigo after charming the ill-fitting pants off the entire class. Five minutes and they already all loved him. He was going to rock this high school thing.

* * *

“First contact has been made!” Shinji declared, holding his arms up and out in a triumphant V shape.

Hiyori punched him in his unguarded stomach. “Then why isn’t he _here_?”

“Ow! Because I said _first_ contact. I barely had the chance to talk to him, never mind give the sales pitch!”

“Shinji!” said Mashiro, hopping up to him. “How was your first day of school?”

“As if you need to ask.” Shinji grinned. “They _loved_ me. Of course, I was completely irresistible.”

“Oh, good,” said Lisa without looking up. “I was afraid you were going to use that stupid ‘backwards writing’ thing on them.”

“Shinji, you twit,” Hiyori snapped. “This isn’t supposed to be about you having _fun_. This is supposed to be about you bringing that kid back here so I can kick his ass!”

“Uh, it’s not supposed to be about that, either,” Shinji pointed out.

Hiyori double-kicked him towards the door. “Get back out there and don’t show your face again until you’ve finished your stinking mission!”

“Jeez. I’m starting to think you’re excited about having this guy come here. Does somebody have a crush?”

Not surprisingly, that turned out to be the wrong thing to say.

* * *

At least he managed to grab his zanpakuto before Hiyori chased him off. He’d need it if he was going to step things up with Ichigo.

And he knew Ichigo would be out, defeating the Hollows he himself drew to this town like the Hollow magnet he was. How did he know bankai but not how to keep a lid on his reiatsu? That was basic stuff!

When Ichigo at last turned up, Shinji decided it was time for another test. Once the Hollow was out of the way and Ichigo was distracted bickering with some other shinigami, Shinji descended from the sky, drawing Sakanade as he went.

If he could run Ichigo through from behind, then Ichigo had never been a match for Sosuke at all.

* * *

The second day of school was much less fun than the first had been. It started off all right, even if that unknown reiatsu—captain-class at least—from the night before was gnawing at him. Kisuke hadn’t said anything about any captains in the area, but that didn’t necessarily mean much. Shinji didn’t know Kisuke at all if he didn’t assume there was always some info that guy was holding back.

Still, Orihime remembered his name and he even got a hug from her, so that was good. The other kids in the class were kind of weird, and that Chizuru was a little uncomfortably like a cross between Lisa and Hiyori, but he could handle that.

Ichigo dragged him outside to rough him up and disabuse him of any notions he might have about the two of them teaming up. It was almost cute, like Ichigo thought he was any kind of threat to Shinji, like Ichigo thought he had any choice in the matter.

Shinji spelled it out for him as plainly as he could: Ichigo was already one of them, whether he wanted to be or not (and didn’t Shinji know a thing or two about being in _that_ position), and his inner Hollow wasn’t going to go away or stop trying to consume him. Eventually it would succeed, and that would be the end of Ichigo Kurosaki.

He could tell his words struck a chord, but Ichigo was stubborn, going back to class without anything being resolved.

Shinji sighed and straightened out his uniform. However stubborn Ichigo was, Shinji could be more so. He had a lot of experience with waiting.

He turned and gave Tatsuki a big smile and wave, but she just frowned at him before leaving. He’d been aware of her presence the entire time, but he sincerely doubted Ichigo noticed at all. The boy was so clueless.

Back in class, Shinji had to stand up and be punished in front of everyone for not doing his homework. Then he found out there was going to be some kind of test, and more homework. What the heck was _that_ all about? Hadn’t they _just_ come back from break? This was ridiculous. He pictured Kisuke somewhere laughing behind his stupid fan at Shinji for falling for this plan. If it didn’t work, Shinji would unleash Hiyori on him, and then they’d see who was laughing. Kisuke would likely have difficulty doing so through a broken jaw.

The day got worse still when he was headed home only to be accosted en route by the little hellion herself. It got better for a minute when Orihime showed up, along with the big guy, but then worse again when Hiyori threatened to kill the pair of them. He had to grab her and make a run for it before she had the chance to act.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand her feelings, even if they were extreme and targeted at the wrong people. This was hard on her, on all of them. They had all spent a long time adjusting to life in the Living World, away from everything they had known before. And they had been doing a pretty good job of it, too. This whole thing was forcing them to reexamine old scars, digging up buried hurts and bitterness.

Well, Shinji was starting to think there was a slight chance Kisuke was right about Ichigo. And if he was, wouldn’t _that_ be a great healing balm: playing a key role in taking Sosuke down for good, then rubbing Soul Society’s nose in it.

“Just be patient,” he told Hiyori, even if it was like telling an elephant to be discreet. “This is going to pay off soon.”

All Hiyori said in response to that was, “Hmph.”

* * *

It was a few days later when Shinji found himself back at the compound around midday, still without changing Ichigo’s mind and with a new potential setback staring him in the face.

Hachi greeted him when he came inside. “You’re home awfully early today, Shinji.”

Shinji pulled off his hat and flopped down in a chair with a sigh. “I had to book. Didn’t you feel them? Those captain-class reiatsu that appeared earlier? Soul Society must have sent a team in response to those attacks the other day.”

“So you tucked your tail between your legs and ran for it,” Hiyori scoffed, as understanding as ever.

Shinji hooked a finger behind his tie to loosen it. “It’s not like I had a choice. I’m pretty sure Ichigo’s kept our offer a secret and I prefer it that way. I don’t want to give anyone from Soul Society the chance to fill his head with stories about us. They have an established relationship with him—he’s clearly under the misguided notion they’re his friends. If it came to blows between me and some captain buddy of his, how would that look?”

“Like some captain buddy of his was curb-stomping the annoying bald guy with the flat face,” Hiyori said.

“Funny. Oh, and I’m still not bald.”

“So that’s it, then?” Love asked. “We’re giving up on this guy already?”

“No,” said Shinji. “I can tell he’s getting desperate. He just needs a little more encouragement and I’m positive he’ll cave.” He scratched his head. “Not looking forward to facing my punishment for skipping class though.”

* * *

If it was encouragement for Ichigo he wanted, Shinji got it that night when a group of five Arrancars showed up in town. Even at a distance he could tell the fighting was fierce, and there was no way Ichigo’s Hollow hadn’t tried to put in an appearance. Either Ichigo came looking for them by the next day or Shinji would eat his best hat—and he really liked that hat.

“Scotch the barriers, Hachi,” Shinji instructed the following morning. “Come on, everybody. This kid is incredibly dense. Don’t hold anything back.”

“Shinji, aren’t you afraid all this reiatsu will attract the attention of the Guard members in town?” Mashiro asked, wide-eyed.

“After those battles last night, something tells me they’ll be preoccupied with other things.”

“And you think this Ichigo kid will be looking for us,” said Kensei.

“I know he will be.”

And sure enough, Ichigo found them, as cocky and out of his depth as ever.

“I’m here to use you, Shinji,” he said.

 _Adorable_ , thought Shinji, grinning.


End file.
